China's last remaining singles player achieves another milestone! Wang Xinyu reaches the Australian Open women's singles round of 16 for the first time

On January 24th, Melbourne saw a day of high temperatures, causing the 2026 Australian Open singles third round to begin ahead of schedule. Chinese athlete Wang Xinyu competed against the 13th seed Noskova, securing victory in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 through key breaks and proactive offense, marking her debut in the Australian Open women's singles round of 16. Her next opponent will be the 4th seed Anisimova.

During the day in Melbourne, temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, triggering the Australian Open's heat policy—all outdoor matches were suspended except for the three roofed courts, which continued after closing their roofs. Other courts resumed play only after 5:30 PM local time. When the match was paused, Wang Xinyu and Noskova were tied 2-2 in the first set.

Wang Xinyu

Noskova

In a post-match interview after her previous match against Ostapenko, Wang Xinyu mentioned that her opponent’s fierce attacks initially made it difficult for her to adapt and respond, but the comeback victory gave her valuable experience and confidence. Facing Noskova, who has a similarly fast playing style, Wang quickly found her rhythm and made timely adjustments. After losing her serve in the first set, she immediately broke back and secured another critical break at the end to take the set 7-5.

Wang Xinyu

In the second set, Wang Xinyu broke serve early, but then experienced a brief dip in her first serve, with consecutive double faults allowing Noskova to break back quickly, leveling the score at 2-2. For a while afterward, both players held serve efficiently with love games. Facing Noskova’s repeated deep shots near the baseline, Wang lowered her center of gravity and defended tenaciously, launching impressive counterattacks that earned her a decisive break and her own service game to close out the match. She capitalized on the opportunity to win 6-4.

Wang Xinyu

In the post-match interview, Wang Xinyu couldn’t hide her excitement: “Thank you all for staying up late—oh no, not staying up late, but waiting for me in this hot weather. Thank you so much!” With this victory, Wang reached the Australian Open women’s singles round of 16 for the first time in her career, earning 240 ranking points and moving up to No. 33 in the singles rankings, just one spot shy of her career-high No. 32. As the last Chinese singles player remaining in this Australian Open, we look forward to Wang Xinyu breaking new ground again!

(Article and editing by: Sunny)